Currently, people use cellular telephones for conducting conversations with other people and for sending other information such as SMS messages, audio and video data to other cellular telephones. Cellular telephones operate by connecting to a cellular network and by transmitting and receiving radio signals having frequencies within licensed frequency bands via the cellular network. User's of cellular telephones usually subscribe to a cellular network and/or pay for communicating across the cellular network. Consequently, it can be expensive to communicate using a cellular telephone.
Recently, there has been a drive to add extra features to cellular telephones to make them more attractive to consumers. One such feature is Push to Talk over Cellular (PoC). This feature enables a person to select one or more contacts in their address book that they wish to broadcast a voice message to, press a single button and then transmit the voice message to the selected contacts via the cellular network. One disadvantage of Push to Talk over Cellular is that it uses the cellular network to broadcast the voice message. As mentioned above, this may cost the user money and may deter them from using the feature.
Alternatively, a Walkie-talkie may be used to conduct a conversation since it is arranged to transmit and receive radio broadcast signals which have frequencies in the unlicensed radio bands. Although Walkie-talkies are free to operate, they have limited broadcasting range (typical less than 10 km) and consume battery power because it is necessary to have them always turned on if you wish to receive a communication. A further disadvantage with Walkie-talkies is that people who are late joining the conversation have no way of knowing the correct frequency band to tune to.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an alternative electronic device for communication.